Chapter 240
CHARLOTTE-
I sat on the bed and thought about the powder room.
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Nico had made me laugh. Luca had looked at me like the sound belonged to him. Then he had taken me apart against a sink because another man had told a joke..
I blushed into my hands.
Jealous.
Possessive.
Marks I was not supposed to cover.
I could not believe this was a side of Luca I had never witnessed before. It was hot. It had me swooning all over again.
He was out with his parents and Marco. Family damage control. Beatrice. Whatever else the Vescari family required after breakfast earlier today.
I had time.
I wanted tonight to be something.
A night out. Dinner, maybe. Something that looked like more than a locked bathroom and a rule
whispered against my temple. His hand on the back of my chair because he wanted it there, not because he was hiding.
The rules said just sex.
Whenever we both wanted. No one else.
They did not say dinner.
They did not say he was mine in public.
I still opened my phone and searched anyway.
Quiet places. Rooftops. Somewhere in Barcelona that did not look too popular. I wanted privacy, though that was difficult with Luca.
That was when I saw them.
Photos.
New. Recent.
Luca in the hotel corridor.
Paloma Voss.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
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Close. Smiling. Her body angled toward him like she already knew she would end up in his bed tonight. His face turned toward hers. From that angle it looked like flirting.
My heart dropped.
Today.
This morning.
He even had on the same clothes.
After he had come inside me and told me not to cover his marks.
When had that happened?
I knew her. Everyone knew her. Luca had a crush on her before he was anyone. Posters. Campaigns. He had been crazy about her. I used to tease him about it before I realized my own feelings. I used to do the voice. I used to threaten to tape the campaign over his bed.
Pain formed in my chest and did not move.
Did they exchange numbers?
How long had he stood there for paparazzi to get these?
I scrolled.
Another shot. Both of them smiling.
My chest ached.
I locked the screen.
Unlocked it.
Looked again like an idiot.
The door opened while I was still in the middle of processing it.
Luca stepped in, already frowning when he saw my face.
“What’s wrong?”
I held the phone up.
I did not trust my voice yet.
He came closer. Looked.
His jaw tightened.
Then his whole face changed.
Shock first.
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The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Then something like panic.
Charlotte-”
“When.” It came out flat. “When was this.”
“This morning. I went to find Marco. She was in
the hall.”
“You had a crush on her.”
“Years ago.”
“She looks like she has one on you.”
He dragged a hand through his hair. “She asked for dinner. I said I wasn’t free.”
“That isn’t what the picture says.”
“The picture is a lie. Clearly.”
I laughed once. It hurt. “You dragged me into a bathroom because Nico made me laugh. Then you stood there with Paloma Voss long enough for cameras to get photos of the two of you flirting.”
His eyes flashed. “I didn’t touch her. That’s not how I flirt either.”
“You talked. You stayed.”
“I was polite.” He said it like he could not understand how politeness had become a crime. “Charlotte, I walked away. I didn’t wave. I didn’t get her number. I went to find Marco and then I came back.”
Silence.
“Did you give her your number?” I asked.
“No.”
“Would you have, if I wasn’t around?”
“You weren’t around then. The answer is still no.” Immediate. Then, quieter, confused: “I don’t want her. Please don’t take those pictures seriously.”
“It’s hard not to, knowing your reputation.”
He frowned, like he had not expected me to say that.
I looked at the mark on my neck in the mirror across the room.
Don’t cover it, he had said.
While he smiled at a woman he used to dream about.
“I was looking for a place for tonight,” I said. Stupid. Honest. “I thought maybe we could go out. Then I
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remembered the rules. It’s just sex. Then I saw this. No flirting, remember? No sleeping with anyone else. You aren’t even keeping up with the rules. Then why make this deal?”
He stood very still.
Like he had walked into a wall he could not see.
“Charlotte.”
“If this deal means nothing to you, then just say that.”
He crossed the room.
Stopped before he touched me.
His hands flexed at his sides, like he wanted to reach and did not know if he was allowed.
“I said I wasn’t free,” he repeated. “Because I’m not. Not for her. Not for anyone. That was the deal.”
My eyes burned.
I hated that.
I hated that a photo could do this when he had called me his life in front of his parents and then forced it back to best friend.
“Then why do I feel like the secret,” I whispered, “and she gets you in the hallway like this? No one will ever think we have something going on because I’m not the type of girl you’re usually seen with.”
Luca looked at the phone again.
At Paloma.
At me.
I could see the pain there. The confusion. He looked like a man trying to fix a crash without knowing which part had broken.
“I didn’t know there were cameras,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about photos. I was thinking about getting away from her without being an ass, and about Marco, and about you being downstairs. I kept looking past her. I was worried you would walk out and see it. And you know I do not have a problem being seen with you, there are so many pictures of us out there.”
Yes, as his best friend. Nothing more.
“I did see it. Just later. On my phone. Like everyone else.”
He shut his eyes.
Opened them.
“Tell me how to fix it,” he said.
“The fact that you didn’t want me to see that just shows you knew you were doing something that would
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
upset me and still did it anyway.”
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Why was I letting these photos affect me this much? Why was I so jealous and upset right now? I knew the answer to that. Luca was the one who had no clue I was in love with him.
“I don’t want her,” he said again, slower. “I used to. You know that. You made fun of me for it. That was a kid with a poster. This morning I stood there and all I thought was that it wasn’t you. That if you saw her that close you would think I wanted it. And I was right. And I hate that I was right. Now you’re upset and I don’t know how to fix it or what you want me to say.”
I wanted him to say that he loved me too. That I never had to worry about him sleeping with another woman again. That there was a chance we could be more than friends.
A tear slipped down my cheek.
I wiped it fast.
He noticed.
Of course he noticed. He stiffened. Shocked and horrified.
I looked at the phone in my lap.
At the smile that was not mine.
At the man in front of me who looked more scared of my silence than he had of a crash.
“Charlotte, listen to me, talking to her meant nothing to me.”
“Your entire interaction with her felt real. Like you wanted everyone around to see you with her. Like she’s the type of girl you might one day make your official girlfriend. And me? I’ll always be the best friend in the shadows.”
He didn’t have an answer ready.
He just stood there, close enough to touch, not touching, like the next word might either fix it or finish breaking it.
I thought I could do this-sex with no strings attached. Clearly, I was wrong. The thought of Luca even talking to someone he had a huge crush on made me feel sick to my stomach. I had this constant fear that he would break my heart for someone like her. And these photos brought that fear back.
What had I done? How could I take it all back?
10:18 Thu, Oct 1.
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.